Liquid Telecom teams with VT iDirect and Telesat to deliver enhanced services to businesses in Africa

New Liquid Telecom VSAT service will combine the power of iDirect’s DVB-S2X technology with Telesat’s Telstar 12 VANTAGE Africa Ku-band capacity

Leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, a subsidiary of Econet Global, has entered into an arrangement with Telesat, a leading global satellite operator with extensive coverage of the EMEA region, and VT iDirect, a world leader in satellite-based IP communications technology, to deliver enhanced services to enterprise customers in central and southern Africa.

Liquid Telecom will leverage the iDirect platform to distribute cost-effective satellite services, using Telesat Africa-Africa capacity on the Telstar 12 VANTAGE satellite, as part of a multi-year agreement.

Liquid Telecom will deploy iDirect’s Universal Satellite Hub at its teleport in Johannesburg, South Africa, along with the next-generation iQ Desktop remotes to offer Layer 2 VPLS connectivity across both fibre and satellite on a single network for the first time.

The new offering provides a complete, end-to-end solution for VSAT integrators and corporate customers that will deliver more reliable, consistent and cost-effective broadband for users across any network. It also will be available as a managed service offering, enabling enterprise customers access to a range of scalable and secure cloud-based services, such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Office 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite and Windows 10.

“Liquid Telecom is continuing to invest in the very latest satellite technologies, which will help us support the future bandwidth needs of corporate customers,” said Scott Mumford, Liquid Telecom’s Group Managing Executive of Satellite and VSAT. “The combination of Telesat’s satellite capacity with Liquid Telecom’s iDirect network and teleport facilities gives us a unique offering that will deliver superior performance and value for businesses across the continent.”

“Satellite is a core component in the networks of most African companies and Telesat is excited to be supporting Liquid Telecom on this innovative service for VSAT integrators across Africa,” said Tom Eaton, Vice President, International Sales for Telesat. “Broadband networks continuously strive for lower costs, greater speed, and higher reliability. The solution from Telesat, Liquid Telecom and VT iDirect fully delivers on these metrics and we look forward to bringing a new level of broadband performance and value to enterprise VSAT customers in Africa.”

“Our DVB-S2X product suite allows Liquid Telecom to leverage the benefits of HTS capacity to significantly increase network efficiency, performance, and scale based on a significantly lower cost model,” said David Harrower, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, VT iDirect. “We are seeing a strong interest in satellite broadband across the enterprise market in Africa, and are thrilled to help Liquid Telecom and Telesat meet this demand with a highly competitive offering.”

Liquid Telecom’s satellite and VSAT services have been shortlisted for Best Network Improvement at the 2017 Africacom Awards.

Liquid Telecom is a leading communications services and solutions provider across 13 countries in Eastern, central and Southern Africa that serves carrier, enterprise and retail customers with high-speed, reliable connectivity and digital services.

It has built Africa’s largest independent fibre network, spanning over 50,000km, and operates state-of-the-art data centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nairobi, with a combined 6,800 square metres of rack space.

This is in addition to leading cloud-based services, such as Microsoft Office365 and Microsoft Azure, and innovative digital content provision, including Netflix, NBA, TED and Kwese Play.

Through this combined offering, Liquid Telecom is enhancing customers’ experience on their digital journey.

Telesat is a leading global satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite-delivered communications solutions worldwide to broadcast, telecom, corporate and government customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices and facilities around the world, the company’s state-of-the-art fleet consists of 15 satellites, the Canadian payload on ViaSat-1, and two new satellites under construction. An additional two prototype satellites are being readied for launch into low earth orbit (LEO) as part of Telesat’s plans to deploy an advanced, global LEO satellite constellation offering low latency, high throughput broadband services. Telesat also manages the operations of additional satellites for third parties. Privately held, Telesat’s principal shareholders are Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL).

VT iDirect, a subsidiary of VT Systems, is a global leader in IP-based satellite communications providing technology and solutions that enable our partners worldwide to optimize their networks, differentiate their services and profitably expand their businesses. For more than 20 years, the VT iDirect organization has focused on meeting the economic and technology challenges across the satellite industry. Today, the product portfolio, branded under the name iDirect, sets new standards in performance and efficiency, making it possible to deliver voice, video and data connectivity anywhere in the world. VT iDirect is the world’s largest TDMA enterprise VSAT manufacturer and is the leader in key industries including mobility, military/government and cellular backhaul. In 2007, iDirect Government was formed to better serve the U.S. government and defense communities. For more information please visit www.iDirect.net.